A historic thing happened this month at the California Republican Party Spring Organizing Convention in Sacramento – the party voted to formally recognize the California Chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans. If you’re not familiar with them, the Log Cabin Republicans aren’t Abraham Lincoln groupies, they are a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organization that supports both gay rights and electing Republicans to office.

The vote wasn’t even close.

A party committee voted 11-0 on Feb. 28 to send the application for charter status to a floor vote of delegates. The following day, convention delegates voted 861-293 to recognize the Log Cabin Republicans.

“This was an 18-year struggle for us –and the last two years we made it a political priority to achieve our chartering. Chairman [Jim] Brulte and much of the [state GOP] leadership knew that this was going to be coming down the pike sooner or later, and thus the Volunteer Organizations Committee was constituted to ensure the breadth of the Republican Party’s diversity was reflected – these people knew that hard work needed to be rewarded. And we’re the only group that is actively looking to be chartered,” he said.

Becoming chartered required forming chapters in at least 10 California counties, each with at least 10 registered Republican dues-paying members, and a statewide membership of no less than 200. At least three local chapters would need to be chartered by their county party, and their bylaws would need to be congruent with that of the state Republican Party and California election codes.

No easy task. But they did it.

Next came the battle to round up enough delegate votes for a 50-percent-plus-one majority. Moran said in the days approaching the convention, it became much more evident that legislators appoint the bulk of convention delegates, and his attention pivoted from lobbying party officials to members of the Assembly and Senate Republican caucuses.

“We had several legislative allies that were particularly helpful; Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff was our main champion in the Senate, and Assemblyman Rocky Chavez and Assembly Caucus Chairman Scott Wilk did the heavy lifting in the lower chamber. Thankfully, we had done tremendous work with a number of legislators in this last election cycle, so many legislators were able to speak with authority of their positive relationship with Log Cabin Republicans,” Moran explained.

When it was all said and done, Moran outmaneuvered and outpoliticked his opponents – who, he says, were led by Central Valley Assemblywoman Shannon Grove, Inland Empire state Sen. Mike Morrell and the California Tea Party Caucus.

In years past, advocating for the inclusion of gays and lesbians would have been a risky move for elected Republicans – particularly at a state convention. But times are changing, people are evolving, and the world is a different place – even for Republicans.

In fact, according to a recent Public Policy Institute of California survey, 61 percent of Californians favor same-sex marriage, including 44 percent of Republicans. And if you want a peek into the future, Pew Research found that 58 percent of Republican millennials favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally.

Being OK with gay rights isn’t just the future of California, it’s the future of California Republicans.

Moran said his group’s next move would be to back “mainstream Republican candidates that support inclusion and values, which will lead to a stronger and more vibrant GOP.”

Staff opinion columnist John Phillips can be heard weekdays at 3 p.m. on “The Drive Home with Jillian Barberie and John Phillips” on KABC/AM 790 in Los Angeles.

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